| Preparations complete at Sindh Assembly |
| Saturday, 06 September 2008 | |
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Presidential elections in the province will be held on Saturday at the Sindh Assembly under tight security. Speaker Nisar Khuhro has convened a special session for the elections, and the election commission has finalised all arrangements. The Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice, who is the Returning Officer for the election, will conduct the elections in the House while 166 members will cast their votes. The total strength of the House of the Sindh Assembly is 168 but one general and one minority seat are still vacant. The total number of votes from the Sindh Assembly will be 64. Polling will start at 10 am and will continue till 3pm. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has a majority with 93 members and the party will have 36 votes in the presidential election, while its coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which has 51 members, will have 20 votes. The Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) has eight members and three votes, while the National People’s Party (NPP) and the Awami National Party (ANP) have three members and two members respectively. Both parties have one vote each in the election. The Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) has nine members. Three of its members joined the treasury benches and are supporting the PPP candidate, while it’s provincial chief Arbab Rahim is out of country. The PPP leadership claimed that the party leadership had contacted Arbab in Dubai and negotiations were on till Friday night to make the ex-chief minister support the PPP in the presidential election. However, Rahim had not returned till late Friday night and the PML-Q MPAs expect that he might come back at the last moment as three group leaders of the PML-Q, Maher, Arbab, and Sherazi, were already negotiating with the PPP to support Asif Zardari. Pir Pagaro’s PML-F is still undecided about the votes and Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly Jam Madad Ali told the media that the party might abstain in the election. Independent sources claimed that talks were going on between Pagaro and PPP leadership regarding the elections. The prime minister negotiated with the PML-F leaders twice, while the Sindh Chief Minister also spoke with Jam Madad. Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi’s NPP was divided over the issue but the party decided on Friday to vote for the PPP candidate after a meeting with Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur. Jatoi and Zardari both belong to Nawabshah and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani also reportedly phoned Jatoi in London and reminded him to support Zardari. The PPP and its coalition partners showed their combined strength on Friday night at the Chief Minister House. Shah had hosted an Iftar for the members. ‘Foolproof security arrangements at Sindh Assembly’: Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza on Friday said foolproof security arrangements had been made for the Presidential election to be held at the Sindh Assembly building on September 6 (today). He further said there would not be a big crowd, and only a limited number of MPAs and some political leaders would be in the assembly. To another question Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, during a recent visit to Karachi had said there were continued threats to the VVIPs. He said this situation was confronted by the important personalities for the past 11 to 12 years but the government was fully aware and the intelligence agencies were keeping a close eye over the threats. |
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